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Antennas and Propagation

Thanks to Prof. William Stalings

Introduction


An antenna is an electrical conductor or


system of conductors


Transmission - radiates electromagnetic energy


into space
Reception - collects electromagnetic energy
from space

In two-way communication, the same


antenna can be used for transmission and
reception

Radiation Patterns


Radiation pattern


Graphical representation of radiation properties


of an antenna
Depicted as two-dimensional cross section

The relative distance from the antenna


position in each direction determines the
relative power.

Radiation Patterns


Beam width (or half-power beam width)





Measure of directivity of antenna


The angle within which the power radiated by
the antenna is at least half of what it is in the
most preferred direction.

Reception pattern


Receiving antennas equivalent to radiation


pattern

Types of Antennas


Isotropic antenna (idealized)




Radiates power equally in all directions

Dipole antennas



Half-wave dipole antenna (or Hertz antenna)


Quarter-wave vertical antenna (or Marconi
antenna)

Types of Antennas


Parabolic Reflective
Antenna


Terrestrial
microwave and
satellite application

Antenna Gain


Antenna gain



A measure of the directionality of an antenna.


Power output, in a particular direction,
compared to that produced in any direction by a
perfect omnidirectional antenna (isotropic
antenna)

Effective area


Related to physical size and shape of antenna

Antenna Gain


Relationship between antenna gain and effective


area

G=






4Ae

4f Ae
=
c2

G = antenna gain
Ae = effective area
f = carrier frequency
c = speed of light ( 3 108 m/s)
= carrier wavelength

Antenna gain and effective areas


Type of antenna

Effective area

Power gain

Isotropic

2/4

Infinitesimal dipole or loop

1.52/4

1.5

Half-wave dipole

1.642/4

1.64

Horn, mouth area A

0.81A

10A/ 2

Parabolic, face area A

0.56A

7A/ 2

turnstile

1.152/4

1.15

Propagation Modes




Ground-wave propagation
Sky-wave propagation
Line-of-sight propagation

Ground Wave Propagation

Ground Wave Propagation







Follows contour of the earth


Can Propagate considerable distances
Frequencies up to 2 MHz
Example


AM radio

Sky Wave Propagation

Sky Wave Propagation







Signal reflected from ionized layer of atmosphere


back down to earth
Signal can travel a number of hops, back and forth
between ionosphere and earths surface
Reflection effect caused by refraction
Examples



Amateur radio
CB radio

Line-of-Sight Propagation

Line-of-Sight Propagation


Transmitting and receiving antennas must be


within line of sight


Satellite communication signal above 30 MHz not


reflected by ionosphere
Ground communication antennas within effective line
of sight of each other due to refraction

Refraction bending of microwaves by the


atmosphere





Velocity of electromagnetic wave is a function of the


density of the medium
When wave changes medium, speed changes
Wave bends at the boundary between mediums

Line-of-Sight Equations


Optical line of sight

d = 3.57 h


Effective, or radio, line of sight

d = 3.57 h




d = distance between antenna and horizon (km)


h = antenna height (m)
K = adjustment factor to account for refraction,
rule of thumb K = 4/3

Line-of-Sight Equations


Maximum distance between two antennas


for LOS propagation:

3.57 h1 + h2



h1 = height of antenna one


h2 = height of antenna two

Exercise


The maximum distance between two antenna


for LOS transmission if one antenna is 100 m
high and the other is at ground level is :
Now suppose that the receiving antenna is 10
m high. To achieve the same distance, how
high must the transmitting antenna be?

LOS Wireless Transmission


Impairments







Attenuation and attenuation distortion


Free space loss
Noise
Atmospheric absorption
Multipath
Refraction

Attenuation


Strength of signal falls off with distance over


transmission medium
Attenuation factors for unguided media:


Received signal must have sufficient strength so that


circuitry in the receiver can interpret the signal
Signal must maintain a level sufficiently higher than
noise to be received without error
Attenuation is greater at higher frequencies, causing
distortion

Free Space Loss




Free space loss, ideal isotropic antenna

(
Pt (4d )
4fd )
=
=
2
2
Pr
c

Pt = signal power at transmitting antenna


 Pr = signal power at receiving antenna
 = carrier wavelength
 d = propagation distance between antennas
 c = speed of light ( 3 10 8 m/s)
where d and are in the same units (e.g., meters)


Free Space Loss




Free space loss equation can be recast:


LdB = 10 log

Pt
4d
= 20 log

Pr

= 20 log( ) + 20 log(d ) + 21.98 dB


4fd
= 20 log
= 20 log( f ) + 20 log(d ) 147.56 dB
c

Free Space Loss




Free space loss accounting for gain of other


antennas

(
(
Pt (4 ) (d )
d )
cd )
=
=
=
2
2
Pr
Gr Gt
Ar At
f Ar At
2






Gt = gain of transmitting antenna


Gr = gain of receiving antenna
At = effective area of transmitting antenna
Ar = effective area of receiving antenna

Free Space Loss




Free space loss accounting for gain of other


antennas can be recast as
LdB = 20 log( ) + 20 log(d ) 10 log( At Ar )
= 20 log( f ) + 20 log(d ) 10 log( At Ar ) + 169.54dB

Categories of Noise





Thermal Noise
Intermodulation noise
Crosstalk
Impulse Noise

Thermal Noise







Thermal noise due to agitation of electrons


Present in all electronic devices and
transmission media
Cannot be eliminated
Function of temperature
Particularly significant for satellite
communication

Thermal Noise


Amount of thermal noise to be found in a


bandwidth of 1Hz in any device or
conductor is:

N 0 = kT (W/Hz )





N0 = noise power density in watts per 1 Hz of


bandwidth
k = Boltzmann's constant = 1.3803 10-23 J/K
T = temperature, in kelvins (absolute temperature)

Thermal Noise



Noise is assumed to be independent of frequency


Thermal noise present in a bandwidth of B Hertz
(in watts):

N = kTB
or, in decibel-watts

N = 10 log k + 10 log T + 10 log B


= 228.6 dBW + 10 log T + 10 log B

Noise Terminology


Intermodulation noise occurs if signals with


different frequencies share the same medium


Interference caused by a signal produced at a frequency


that is the sum or difference of original frequencies

Crosstalk unwanted coupling between signal


paths
Impulse noise irregular pulses or noise spikes



Short duration and of relatively high amplitude


Caused by external electromagnetic disturbances, or
faults and flaws in the communications system

Expression Eb/N0


Ratio of signal energy per bit to noise power


density per Hertz

Eb S / R
S
=
=
N0
N0
kTR

The bit error rate for digital data is a function of


Eb/N0


Given a value for Eb/N0 to achieve a desired error rate,


parameters of this formula can be selected
As bit rate R increases, transmitted signal power must
increase to maintain required Eb/N0

Other Impairments


Atmospheric absorption water vapor and


oxygen contribute to attenuation
Multipath obstacles reflect signals so that
multiple copies with varying delays are
received
Refraction bending of radio waves as they
propagate through the atmosphere

Fading in a mobile environment







The term fading refers to the time


variation of received signal power
caused by changes in the transmission
medium or paths.
Atmospheric condition, such as rainfall
The relative location of various
obstacles changes over time

Multipath Propagation

Multipath Propagation


Reflection - occurs when signal encounters a


surface that is large relative to the wavelength of
the signal
Diffraction - occurs at the edge of an impenetrable
body that is large compared to wavelength of radio
wave
Scattering occurs when incoming signal hits an
object whose size in the order of the wavelength
of the signal or less

The Effects of Multipath


Propagation


Multiple copies of a signal may arrive at


different phases


If phases add destructively, the signal level


relative to noise declines, making detection
more difficult

Intersymbol interference (ISI)




One or more delayed copies of a pulse may


arrive at the same time as the primary pulse for
a subsequent bit

Types of Fading







Fast fading
Slow fading
Flat fading
Selective fading
Rayleigh fading
Rician fading

The fading channel




Additive White Gaussian Noise (AWGN)


channel thermal noise as well as
electronics at the transmitter and receiver
Rayleigh fading there are multiple indirect
paths between transmitter and receiver and
no distinct dominant path, such as an LOS
path
Rician fading there is a direct LOS path in
additional to a number of indirect multipath
signals

The fading channel


power in the do min ant paths
K=
power in the scattered paths
K=0 Rayleign
K= AWGN

The fading channel

Error Compensation Mechanisms






Forward error correction


Adaptive equalization
Diversity techniques

Forward Error Correction




Transmitter adds error-correcting code to data


block


Code is a function of the data bits

Receiver calculates error-correcting code from


incoming data bits


If calculated code matches incoming code, no error


occurred
If error-correcting codes dont match, receiver attempts
to determine bits in error and correct

Adaptive Equalization


Can be applied to transmissions that carry analog


or digital information






Analog voice or video


Digital data, digitized voice or video

Used to combat intersymbol interference


Involves gathering dispersed symbol energy back
into its original time interval
Techniques



Lumped analog circuits


Sophisticated digital signal processing algorithms

Diversity Techniques


Diversity is based on the fact that individual


channels experience independent fading events
Space diversity techniques involving physical
transmission path
Frequency diversity techniques where the signal
is spread out over a larger frequency bandwidth or
carried on multiple frequency carriers
Time diversity techniques aimed at spreading the
data out over time

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